Ahead of its mega bike rally here on January 29, the Congress has fired a fresh salvo at the ruling BJP through a series of caricature posters

The 'octopus poster' issued by the Uttarakhand Congress on the social media.(HT Photo)

Ahead of its mega bike rally here on January 29, the Congress has fired a fresh salvo at the ruling BJP through a series of caricature posters.

Unleashing a poster war, the Congress has targeted the BJP governments at the Centre and the state for what it calls their “anti-people policies” that were affecting the common man in the state.

The most conspicuous among the posters is the one that portrays a bearded man (in what appears to be a lookalike of Prime Minister Narendra Modi) with eight tentacle-like legs like that of an octopus.

People can be seen panicking and running away from the tentacles that symbolise rising prices of petrol, diesel and domestic gas cylinders.

The ‘octopus poster’ that comes barely three months ahead of the civic polls reads: ‘mehengi gas, mehenga tel, double engine ho gaya fail’ (the double engine government of BJP has failed to control the prices of LPG cylinder and fuel).

“It is just one the 12 posters that have been released by us (Uttarakhand Congress) on the social media ahead of the party’s ‘vishal jan chetna’ (public awareness) rally in the state capital on January 29,” said Amarjeet Singh, president of the state Congress’ information technology cell.

One of the posters attacks the BJP government for the “deteriorating law and order situation in the state despite its zero-tolerance stance” while another one hits out at the BJP’s Central government for “failing to keep its promise of ‘achche din’, with a Modi lookalike blowing a snake charmer’s pipe in front of a fuel dispensing pipe.

“Through the posters, we’re also highlighting how the state government has been observing ‘maun vrat’ (vow of silence) over the debt-ridden farmers’ plight and has gone back on its pre-poll promise of granting a farm loan waiver to them,” said Pritam Singh, president of the Congress’ state unit.

In one of the posters, a saffron-clad hand can be seen handing over a tiny umbrella to a farmer sitting on his parched field. At least seven farmers have allegedly committed suicide in Uttarakhand over the past few months after they reportedly failed to repay their loans.

Besides being posted and circulated on social media, the posters have also been displayed at public places in the state capital.

Ahead of the 2017 assembly polls as well, the Congress party had circulated a series of hilarious spoofs, videos and caricatures on social media platforms.

The BJP, meanwhile, lashed out at the Congress for its series of posters. “They (posters) clearly reflect the restlessness, anxiety and mental bankruptcy of the Congress and are nothing but a ploy to mislead the public,” said Devendra Bhasin, BJP’s state media in charge.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Harish Rawat and former state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay are likely to give Monday’s bike rally in Dehradun a miss.

The rally will be flagged off by Congress veteran and Leader of the Opposition in the House, Indira Hridayesh.